Sleepy lions, empty bars, lost jobs: A world without tourism

For growing numbers of businesses and individuals who depend on the global tourism industry, the question is not so much when the coronavirus pandemic will end but how and if they’ll survive until business picks up.

“It’s now survival of the fittest,” said Johann Krige, CEO of the Kanonkop wine estate in South Africa, where the drying up of wine-tasting tourists threatens dozens of wine farms around the historic town of Stellenbosch, near Cape Town.

The result is an ever-evolving global mishmash of restrictions and quarantines, all of which are providing zero long-term visibility for businesses trying to make payrolls and for everyone in the industry from trinket sellers to luxury hotels.

He concedes that their numbers will never make up for the ruinous plunge in foreign visitors who once thronged the university town before the coronavirus chased them away.

Tourism income in South Africa was down 98% in May compared with the same month last year, the Tourism Business Council says, and over half a million jobs in its sector are at risk.

Governments in countries heavily reliant on tourism are trying to use bailouts to keep businesses afloat.

“Some people had to sell their homes, returning to their parents and waiting until next year when tourism will probably be back again,” she said.

Other contributors were Pan Pylas in London, Gerald Imray in Cape Town, South Africa, and Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal